Welcome to our blog series - Checking the Pulse - providing you with useful and informative ABC Friends News bites. Below you will find links to interesting reads/webinars, online events coming up and ABC TV productions you may enjoy.
Some urgent actions we ask you to consider
- Firstly become informed - Reuters comment on the Media Royal Commission Petition here.
- Sign the Kevin Rudd petition to ensure strength and diversity of Australian news media. Surprisingly the Murdoch media is yet to report on the petition existence.
- And a good news story.... Our ABC Friends National's 2021 Calendar - 'Reflections, Resilience & Renewal' is now available for purchase. Friends of the ABC have shared their personal responses to Australia’s recent devastating fires, the impact of the ongoing pandemic and the inevitable changes in all our lives. It includes stories of resilience and hope for 2021 told through photos and brief descriptions.
Informative Reads
Here's a list of four things to read this month.
- More drama, fewer children's shows under free-to-air TV rule changes – A media and marketing article here.
- ABC Radio Adelaide newsreader Paul McCarthy farewells listeners and a last fanfare for the ABC flagship 7:45am News bulletin - article here.
- Les Miserables – Killing the ABC in a time of national emergency article here.
- Rural Australia to lose ABC and SBS TV broadcasts after company stops maintaining transmission sites - article here.
Dates to put in your Diary
19th November 6pm ACDT. Criminalising Journalism, Silencing Whistle-Blowers: YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW - An online broadcast with Quentin Dempster AM, former Chair of the Walkley Foundation and veteran journalist, broadcaster and author, in conversation with University of South Australia's Professor Rick Sarre. You can register now for this event and submit your questions on Media Freedom before the discussion.
Interesting ABC Programmes to catch up on
-
Lockdown Stories – inspirational short films made by young Australians. Available on iView here.
- Searching for Superhuman – Tuesday 27 October The mind blowing, ever-changing narrative of the human body and mind from the inception of the Human Genome Project in 1990 to the present.
- And dare to venture across to SBS On demand and enjoy an ABC Viewers and British drama classic! All the seasons of the best Spy series ever – It’s Spooks of course !
On behalf of your 2020-2021 Committee
Sue Pinnock - President
Sandra Coopman - Secretary
Mihir Makwana - Treasurer
Roselie Copley, Andrew Johnston and Tina Phillips - Committee Members